AT&T crowns itself the 5G King of the World

Following a trip to the White House last week, AT&T has decided this meeting has confirmed the US as the best, and since it is the best in the US, AT&T is the logically the 5G King of the World.

The meeting at the White House progressed largely as you would expect with the message very clear. The US is winning the race for leadership in the 5G era but it needs to continue to gather momentum. Countries in Asia are moving forward at a steady pace, while certain European states are making moves as well. But little of this seems to worry the US.

“The race to 5G is a sprint not a marathon,” said Congressman Greg Walden, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

“The race has begun, and if we’re going to lead it and get to gigabit speeds, low latency and connection to a tremendous number of devices, we have to take the right steps and put the right policies in place,” said Senator John Thune, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

“But it is a race we need to win and by many accounts we are already behind China, and other nations in key areas. But here’s what’s at stake; 5G is expected to deliver $275 billion in new investment in our economy, expected to create $500 billion in economic growth and three million new jobs. Make no mistake, we have the technology. The technology is created by American industries and including those who are represented today, and it is the best around. It leads the world in next generation mobile communications. But that technology is only part of the equation.”

According to the politicians, the US is winning the race to 5G, and with various administration changes being forced through, new FCC rules on small cells are a prime example, the road is being newly paved for acceleration.

“Industry is not asking us for money, its asking us to cut the red tape,” said Congressman Walden.

It has the money, the technology companies, spectrum and, pretty soon, the regulatory environment to win the race to 5G. Clearly buoyed by this meeting, AT&T Assistant Vice President of Global Public Policy Chris Boyer has found confidence when penning a blog post entitled “AT&T is Leading the US and the World on Mobile 5G”.

Never mind Telia’s hand is hovering over the on-switch, or that Deloitte declared China is winning owing to a continued focus on network infrastructure, or its own domestic rival has already launched a 5G service (admittedly an incredibly limited one), AT&T is winning.

“For its part, AT&T will launch mobile 5G in 2018. We’ll be the first company to introduce mobile 5G service based on industry standards,” said Boyer. “We plan to introduce mobile 5G in parts of 12 cities this year – with seven additional cities lined up for early 2019.”

So there, you are. AT&T is in the lead because it can offer mobile 5G services without the devices to make use of it. Despite the confidence oozing out of every crevice, this is still a race which is wide open. The US is in a good position, but so is Korea, Japan and China.